call blocker device suggestions?

Maybe I'll still be in luck then. Although I have the phone line split
3 ways, one for two phones and the last for my DSL/ phone combo, only
one phone combination has ringers turned on, and that's the Uniden base
and cordless phones. So hopefully if the device is serial and first in
line there, no ringing of the phones unless the number is ok.... or so I
hope.
If it doesn't, then I will have to return it and go with the
Teleblocker. That one doesn't need caller ID, but everyone calling has
to enter a 1 or 3, but they get right through if so. I would have gone
with this one first, but no longer manufactured and I didn't want to
chance it.
Thanks again for your help here. I expect the device will be arriving
today.
Bill

First, add your number to the federal do-not-call registry.
Second, see if your phone service provider provides any kind of phone
blocking services. We use 1-VOIP for our phone service. I block all
callers from 800, 888, and 876 numbers. Family and friends will never use
toll-free numbers, nor do any local businesses we work with (banks,
medical, etc.). I also block a few specific numbers from local callers
(local fundraisers and whatnot).
I can also set up my phone filters to only accept numbers from specific
area codes, but so far that has not been necessary.
Using these two simple steps we have not had a junk call in years.
On the rare occasion I get an unknown call I only say "hello" once. If the
person on the other end doesn't say hello back, it's probably an automated
call. If I get a recording or a person that is obviously a sales call, I
simply hang up. I have more important things to do than waste my time
interacting with a call I didn't want in the first place. Rude? Maybe, but
the unwanted call was rude to start with.
Good luck,
Anthony Watson
www.mountainsoftware.com
www.watsondiy.com

Thanks, but this doesn't seem to work for me anymore. I have been
registered for years, then re-registered and yet again to no avail.
Most of the calls I'm getting are not legitimate and probably aren't
even in the country, so the DNC doesn't apply. For the first several
years I had it though it worked great.

Not without an additional monthly charge which, being on limited income,
I just recently dropped some services to save on monthly rate.

I don't care if I'm rude or not anymore. The way I look at it, they
KNOW they're not supposed to be calling and if they do then they get
what they deserve. 90% of the time there's no one on the other end
anyway anymore.

If you already have high-speed internet, you may want to look into an
internet phone provider. I only pay $20 a month for 1-VOIP service. That
includes 500 minutes free long distance in US and Canada, caller ID, voice
mail that can email my messages to me, and of course a variety of call
blocking services. There are additional included features I don't even use.
Verizon used to charge us close to $100 a month for basic phone service, no
caller ID, and virtually every call was long distance.
Take care,
Anthony Watson
www.mountainsoftware.com
www.watsondiy.com

And we pay zero per month (and something like 2.5 or 3 cents a
minute)... so it can be even cheaper.
The options are so many and the service so reliable that I am
periodically tempted to go over to VOIP 100%.
Right now I just use it for all non-800/non-911 outgoing calls and have
been reluctant to port our number to the VOIP provider because of
perceived inferiority of VOIP access to the 911 system.

They really need to implement some kind of test capability for
911. The way it works right now, you have no idea if it has the
right info, will call the correct 911 facility, etc until the day
when you need it. When it was all part of the baby bells you
figured it worked and I guess it did. We didn't hear a lot of
horror stories. But now with it being VOIP, I have zero confidence
that it will work if needed.
There should be some protocol where you could do a test call once
a year or similar. Even if it was automated somehow within the
system, so that it didn't ring just echoed back where the call went,
what the far end got for info, etc would be a big confirmation.

ZERO per month? Who is your VOIP provider? That doesn't seem like a
sustainable business model unless they are making money from you in other
ways.
My first VOIP provider charged less, but they ended up going out of
business after the first year or two.

These days a lot of folks drop land lines entirely and just rely on their
cell phones. That's not an option for us since we can't get a decent cell
signal here at home.
VOIP providers are required to have e911 service which should give
emergency responders your address just like the old wired land lines.
Of course, if my internet goes down for any reason, I lose my phone service
too. My Comcast cable connection rarely goes down, but when the power goes
out my modem and phone adapters quit working. I do have them all on a UPS
backup power supply which keeps everything running for an hour or so. That
covers the vast majority of outages. Worst case we have our cell phones for
emergency backups too, assuming we can find a signal.
Thankfully, emergency calls are extremely rare. I have never needed to call
911 since I have had VOIP service. For that matter, I don't think I have
EVER called 911. I certainly wouldn't avoid switching to VOIP for that
extremely rare emergency.
Anthony Watson
www.mountainsoftware.com
www.watsondiy.com

He said zero a month and "something like 2.5 or 3 cents a minute".
That isn't free. 500 minutes of usage, which isn't hard to do
on a home phone line, would be $12 to $15 a month. At 1000 minutes,
you're at $25 to $30 a month. There are
many VOIP providers that are a lot less than that, ~$3 a month,
The very popular and well known MajicJack being one example.
I have Ooma, which is technically free, but I do have to pay
taxes and fees that run $3.75 a month.

I don't exactly understand how these low cost providers do it at
the low prices either. But companies like MJ have been doing it
for a long time now and they are still around.

The operative word there is "should". With no way to test it,
you won't know until you need to use it.

CallCentric.com.
They make their money from me in the per-minute charge that I pay.
They offer monthly plans too... but I elected pre-paid per-minute with
automated refreshes against my credit card.
I'm no VOIP connoisseur, but based on several years experience with
them, I have to give CallCentric five stars.

My service through 1-VOIP is monthly and includes 500 long distance
minutes. I very rarely make phone calls, so we probably use less than 50
per month.
But the extra filtering services, additional phone numbers, etc. are worth
the small extra cost to me.

It looks like a good price if it meets your needs.
Anthony Watson
www.mountainsoftware.com
www.watsondiy.com

Call 911 and when they start asking questions explain you just had voip
installed and see the info they have on the incoming call matches yours. It
is a non-issue for them rather than chase info from state to state and cell
calls that don't show location or go to the proper psap.

But that is just one test at one moment in time.
Next year, when I really need 911, who is to say that the
databases/tables have not been changed?
Yeah, probably the same general functionality locally... but I would
expect it to be more reliable if only because so many people would be
using it locally and hopefully surfacing problems before I need to use
it.

If it worked once, I'd have a lot more confidence that it would
work when needed. Almost always the biggest problem is not that data
in a database changes, it's that it's loaded with the wrong data
to begin with.
I'm not so sure about the part about calling 911 just to test it
out and the authorities will be OK with it. IDK what the policy
is on that and it likely would vary from area to area. I guess
even if they don't like it, the worst that would probably happen
would be that you'd get a lecture on the phone.

This seems like a whole lot of worry for an extremely rare situation.
1. How often do you need to call 911?
2. Out of those rare 911 calls, how often are you in a situation where
you are able to DIAL the call, but unable to SPEAK to tell them your
address?
I agree the automated location data is a nice feature to have, but
enhanced 911 services like this didn't even exist until the late 1970's.
Heck, 911 didn't even exist until 1968:
http://www.911dispatch.com/911/history/
For that matter, most people didn't even have telephones until the early
1900's.
http://www.telephonetribute.com/timeline.html
Generations of people managed to get help when they needed it. Even if
that meant sending the kids running to the next farm over the hill. Or
calling the telephone operator and telling her you needed a doctor.
Of course, before 1900 or so, they would probably make the long trip out
in a horse drawn wagon:
http://www.emt-resources.com/History-of-Ambulances.html
Each improvement has reduced response times. In the right situations
those few extra minutes can mean the difference between life and death.
Of course, even today, if you live in a rural area you can still be
looking at 15-30 minutes response times, if not longer.
If you have a health condition that may rely on medical help arriving if
you are unable to speak, you should probably look into medical alert
services. You simply push a button if you're having an emergency.
Anthony Watson
www.mountainsoftware.com
www.watsondiy.com

It's like bicycle helmet: you only need it once in your life.
Speaking is fine, but if you are in Pennsylvania and wind up speaking to
somebody in Broken Pelvis, Montana because of a bad table entry
somewhere it's not going to help.
All that being said, I have an extremely low opinion and low
expectations of the local 911 - from experience. For my money, I'd
rather call a cab.
But we're both older than dirt and if something happened with The Boss
and she picked up the phone, dialed 911, and things went South because I
moved us to VOIP... I'd probably have to blow my brains out...

Despite my earlier rambling, I do understand your concerns.
I just found the 911 history fascinating and got a little off track. :)

There's certainly no guarantee a standard land line is going to be any more
reliable than a VOIP based line. It all comes back to what directory
information 911 has on file, not what phone company you use.
At least with a VOIP phone you're probably at the location that is on
record for the account. With a cell phone you could be anywhere, and
probably not at the billing address. That is something that would concern
me if I was trying to abandon a home phone.

We have had two instances to call 911 in the last 25+ years, both were for
other people. In our rural area it took well over 30 minutes for the
emergency crews to arrive. Depending on the emergency we could literally
drive to the hospital faster than the ambulance could get here. :)
Anthony Watson
www.mountainsoftware.com
www.watsondiy.com

The problem with a cell phone possibly being anywhere is unique
to the cell phone and has existed since cell phones first came
out. 911 was never intended to be used with cell phones when it
was implemented, but they've apparently done a pretty good job
getting it straightened out. But the focus here was on replacing
a *home* phone with VOIP or cell. If he's worried about making
an emergency call from home, as you've said, why is it so hard to post
the direct dial number to the local police in a known spot, like right next
to the phone base or on the back of the phone? Virtually all cordless
phones also have speed dial, the local police could be added to it.
My main use for 911 would be if I was traveling and came across
an emergency situation. Then 911 would be very useful. For example,
I used it once from my cell phone to report a drunk driver. At home,
I have the direct dial # here for the local police. I'd just dial
911 first, because that might save a some number of seconds, but if
it didn't work, I'd dial the direct number.
Seems a big focus on a nit to me.

Worth noting, is that even a cell phone without
a working phone number (you got a new phone, and
the old one won't make calls any more) will make
911 calls if the phone is working, and you can
get a tower signal. I tried it once with an old
cell.
I explained to the 911 operator what I was doing.
She asked what the emergency. None, I am.... she
asked where I was, and I told her. Half hour later,
the cops showed up to ask me the list of questions.
-
.
Christopher A. Young
learn more about Jesus
. www.lds.org
.
.

As far as I know, the best they can do is triangulate your position from
the closest cell towers. That probably works better in urban areas than
it does in rural areas with fewer towers.
Although, many phones have GPS these days, so maybe they've got a way to
access that data. I really don't know, I still use a dumb flip phone in
an area that doesn't have a reliable cell signal anyway.

I think Peter was only interested in a VOIP line. I only brought up cell
phones in relation to 911 because many folks (my sister-in-law for
example) have dropped their landlines and only use their cell phone.

I think he's more concerned about emergency services being able to locate
him if he or his wife are unable to provide that information when they
call 911.
There are many reasons this might happen, such as young child calling 911
for mommy who doesn't know his address yet. Or a visitor calling when
they discover the homeowner in distress. Or an elderly person who may
have dimentia or otherwise not be thinking clearly. Heck, many people may
not be thinking clearly enough to remember their address in an emergency.
These are certainly all valid reasons, it's just not something I worry
about much. The benefits of a VOIP line far outweigh the need for the
location service for that once in a lifetime emergency. Of course, I'll
probably kick myself someday when that emergency happens and they respond
to the neighbors house. :)
Anthony Watson
www.mountainsoftware.com
www.watsondiy.com

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